Charles Stanley profits surge as turnaround begins to bear fruit

For the six months to the end of September, reported pre-tax profit came in at £2m compared with a loss of £3.9m in the same period the previous year, as costs dropped 5% to £73.1m.

Pre-tax profit for the company’s core business, which excludes the parts of the company that are marked for sale, was up 200% to £3m.

However, total funds under management and administration slipped a touch to £20bn from £21.3bn at the end of March and £20.2bn in the first half of last year.

The company said it completed the sale of non-core assets Charles Stanley Securities and Charles Stanley Financial Solutions in the period.

Chief executive Paul Abberley said: “Significant progress has been made during the period, in line with the stated three-to-five year strategy announced at the last set of results. Our first priority was to arrest the decline in profitability, which we are pleased to have achieved, whilst maintaining our high levels of client delivery.

“Whilst the building blocks are in place for growth, much remains to be done. However I am confident that we are on course to deliver our vision of building Charles Stanley into the leading UK wealth management business."

At 1125 GMT, shares were up 2.3% to 338.25p.